Astrologers everywhere are agreeing that this is a particularly intenseNew Moon. As Lynn Hayes says, this New Moon “captures all of the powerful September planetary events and provides us with an opportunity to pull them all together for the new lunar cycle. New Moons, remember, represent the beginning of a brand new lunar experience as the Moon conjoins the Sun and their dance begins anew.

“The New Moon is actually the dark of the Moon – the Sun completely obscures the Moon’s light, and we begin the new cycle in a void. This is an opportunity to let go of the lessons learned from the previous lunar cycle and begin anew in the sign of Virgo.”

As you know, we are also smack-dab in the middle of a difficult, slightly (okay, very!) crazy Saturn-Uranus opposition, creating lots of tension and drama. StarIQ notes, “The New Moon in this competent sign [Virgo] triggers the ongoing opposition of restrictive Saturn and innovative Uranus that has been rocking the world since last fall. This might intensify personal and political polarization, but it gives us a chance to recognize destructive habits, understand how they limit us and change them. The Sun and Moon’s union in fastidious Virgo could trap us in narrow prejudices when flexibility and open-mindedness are needed to reduce tension.”

Speaking of tension, we are in the process of taking a clear, but perhaps difficult, look at how we have been deeply violated by criticism. As we discussed yesterday, not all criticism is this toxic (although it can sometimes feel like it at the time!). The harshest criticism, when containing important truth, can be helpful, and our creative self knows this. Even when criticism is unfair, our inner artist is often able to call foul and move forward.

But there are times and circumstances, when the “feedback” can poison our confidence. It can be an instantly crippling, or it can be a time-bomb that ticks quietly, but destroys our faith when we are most vulnerable. Julia rather dramatically calls this kind of violation emotional incest. While dramatic, I don’t believe she is overstating it.

The most common time this occurs is when we are students. Julia writes, “A trusting student hears from an unscrupulous teacher that good work is bad or lacks promise, or that he, the guru-teacher, senses a limit to the student’s real talent or was mistaken in seeing talent, or doubts that there is talent … Personal in nature, nebulous as to specifics, this criticism is like covert sexual harassment – a sullying, yet hard to quantify experience. The student emerges shamed, feeling like a bad artist, or worse, a fool to try.”

Julia believes that academia can especially be a viper’s nest of this kind of behavior. I’ll share more about her thoughts and experiences, but over this weekend, I invite you to spend some time sitting with your memories of possible abusive criticism. Can you discern the difference between what has been helpful and what has left you abused and discouraged? I urge you to work with this in your morning pages. Be specific. Name names, if only to yourself.

And again, I can’t emphasize this enough: there is big loss here to be grieved, perhaps for the first time. Don’t skip over this, but do be kind to yourself and go softly about this work.

May this New Moon bring you deep clearing, healing, and fresh creative beginnings.

I have been lurking for the past few weeks and not commenting as I usually do. Please know that your words have been "right on" for me, almost every day! There is so much happening and things are moving rather too fast for me just now. I will write more later as I have another family commitment this weekend. Time, money, criticism, self destructive mental talk, are all raising their importance in my process.

Keeping it moving,

Star*

September 18, 2009, 9:11 amAnonymous

"but it gives us a chance to recognize destructive habits, understand how they limit us and change them"

Very interesting…these are the exact thoughts that I have been having the last week or so. I don't know much about the ins and outs of astrology and this affirmation of what I have been experiencing is great!

September 18, 2009, 6:22 pmdenise

I just noticed your ribbon for bestest blog….Congratulations!!!!I've only been here for a couple of weeks, but I have been more than impressed with your writings, your wisdoms, and your willingness to share your past hurts in order to help others come to terms with their own pain. Once again I am grateful to have been led to your blog. ~*~

ps: I promise to begin my morning writings this tomorrow!

September 20, 2009, 10:51 pmAthene Nocuta

Beth Owl-

This week I had training on ACE (Adverse Childhood Events) that shows that abuse/neglect/verbal put downs actually change the shape of the brain due to the hormones released when a person lives in fear/survival mode. The research was so in-depth and detailed that it tells what part of the brain is effected by what type of abuse at what age. It was fascinating and scary at the same time, but showed how much our society and culture need to change to help everyone.